Fashion

Photography by Peter Stigter

When we reported that Sarah Jessica Parker was exiting Halston earlier this week, we definitely didn’t expect two of the label’s other big names to follow suit in a matter of days. For what seems like the thousandth time in the past few years, Halston is about to undergo another round of drastic changes, as investor Harvey Weinstein and ready-to-wear designer Marios Schwab are also on their way out.

Reports began circulating yesterday that Weinstein, one of Halston’s main investors, would be withdrawing his support and ending his involvement with the company. The exits didn’t stop there, though, as today it was announced that designer Marios Schwab will not return for another season. In fact, the company’s only remaining investor, Hilco, may be pulling the plug on Halston’s ready-to-wear collection altogether, as the line will be put on hiatus for Spring 2012 and fall pieces may not ever hit stores. It seems their new strategy is to focus on the more affordable diffusion line and to abandon ship on the luxury market. Curious choice, since we all know that attempting to go mainstream marked the end of the original Halston’s success.

Although it’s clear that Schwab is a talented designer in his own right, we can’t exactly say we’re surprised about the failure of his designs at Halston. Perhaps it was due to pressure from the big bosses, but the three collections he showed were pretty safe and relied too much on the label’s history. Without innovation and a new perspective (think Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga), a heritage line runs the risk of feeling outdated and irrelevant.
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